Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian

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Uncle's Place, 2005
Intaglio
9" x 12"
Collection of the artist

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Ha So De
Narciso Abeyta
Diné
21" x 29 1/4"

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From November 15, 2008, through April 19, 2009, the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian will exhibit Works by Chessney Sevier, a Northern Arapaho artist. The exhibition will include copper-plate etchings and paintings from the artist’s private collection.

A great source of Chessney’s artistic inspiration came from the simple beauty and lifestyle of the Nebraska sandhills where she grew up. Today, the Wyoming landscape and culture she calls home evoke a similar calling to create.

“Sometimes I see something and the compulsion to capture it on paper is overwhelming. I might relate the subject to a memory of when I was a child or where I grew up, to what I believe is real or more simply stated, to what is beautiful. It’s almost like beauty is painful and the only way to find resolve is to recreate it. I guess that way I can own it, experience it again on a deep, emotional level and move on.”

Although Chessney is considered an emerging artist, she has many awards to her credit. She has taken top honors in printmaking at both the nationally acclaimed Santa Fe Indian Market Show and the Heard Museum Guild Market Show.

Opening on May 17, 2009, the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian presents Paintings from the Charlotte Mittler Collection.

This exhibition focuses on paintings from the Charlotte G. Mittler collection created by students who attended the Santa Fe Indian School between 1919 and 1945. Featured artists include Fred Kabotie, Velino Shjie Herrera, Allan Houser, Andrew Tsinjinnie, Pablitia Velarde, and Sybil Yazzie.

The Santa Fe Indian School has long been considered the birthplace of contemporary Native American easel painting. What has been written about the Santa Fe Indian School Studio and its place within the development of contemporary Native American painting concentrates largely on the patronage and the uniqueness of Santa Fe’s non-Native artistic and intellectual communities.

The purpose of this exhibition is to give voice to a Native American perspective and to reveal how these paintings reflect Native American thought and life as seen through the eyes of the youth during the years between the two world wars.

This exhibit will run through April 18, 2010.